Jeffrey

Recorded in many forms including Jeffry, Jeffery, Jeffrey, Jeffree, Jeffray, Jeffroy, Jaffrey, Jaffray, Geoffrey, and even Geoffroy, this is usually an English surname. It is however ultimately of French and German origins, being derived from a Norman personal name introduced into England by the invaders of 1066, and recorded in medieval times as Geffrey and Jeufroi. These names are themselves the result of a 'fusing' of several originally quite distinct pre 6th century Old German names such as Galfridus and Gaufridus from either "gala" meaning to sing, or "gawi" meaning a region, with the suffix "fridtha", meaning peace". The surname is very early in England and examples of recordings from the Chaucerian period include Walter Gefray, a witness at the Assize Court of Somerset in 1243, and Agnes Geffreys in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1283. Early surviving London church recordings include Elizabeth Jeffrey who married John Hare on February 26th 1628, at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, and Henry Jaffray, who was christened on February 6th 1740, at St. Martins in the Field, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Geffrei. This was dated 1203, in the Curia Regis Rolls of the county of Norfolk, during the reign of King John of England, 1199 - 1216. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.